Returning the Favor
by WhorsulaUndEva
Summary: After seven years, Draco Malfoy has finally become the Death Eater that he has strived to be. But no sooner does he join the ranks, he is thrusted into war. Through it all one question remains the same: On which side does Draco truly lie?
1. Chapter 1

**Returning the Favor**

**(1)**

**Complete Summary:: After seven years, one attempt at murder, and one Dark Mark, Draco Malfoy has finally become the Death Eater that he has strived to be. But no sooner does he join the ranks, he is thrusted into war. Sworn protection by the Dark Lord, Draco sees things that he could never imagine and is thrown into a whirlwind of confusion. There are two sides to this war but on which side does Draco truly lie?**

**(Summary & title by Eva! :D)**

**Hello all!  
This is WhorsulaUndEva's first-ever collaborative fanfic!  
That's not to say we're new to fanfic. Because we most definitely are not.  
****And we most _certainly_ are not new to Harry Potter.  
So! We will attempt to update this thing at every chance we can and, hopefully, you enjoy reading it as much as we will enjoy writing it.  
Reviews are greatly appreciated, and flames are used to roast marshmallows. So don't send them. We enjoy roasted marshmallows. ;D**

**And without further ado I present the first chapter of Returning the Favor.  
- Whorsula;; aka, Sydney. :3  
**

How is it that what everyone thinks, or believes with all their heart for their entire _lifetimes_, can change in an instant, in just a snap of the fingers? Draco Malfoy, laying crumpled on the stone floor just outside of the now seemingly charred Room of Requirement and the disintegrated body of who he considered to be one of his closest, (and only), friends Vincent Crabbe, was stuck in a whirling frenzy as these perplexities struck every nerve in his body, stumped beyond belief. From a bit away from him he heard the voices of the Mudblood Granger, and Potty and the Weasel. They were the voices of the people who had just saved him and Goyle, who was nearly passed out next to him, from an unimaginably horrific death. Draco coughed and spluttered, trying to clear out the smoke that seemed to fill his lungs and attempting to battle the urge to curl up into a ball and pass out in the midst of the Battle of Hogwarts. He didn't want to fight anymore, he couldn't... not after his very own sworn enemy, the _cause_ of this entire battle, had saved him. Saved _him_, Draco Malfoy, sworn servant to Lord Voldemort. Where was the sense in that?

The trio sped off to join a fight that had appeared a little ways on down the corridor and Draco scrambled shakily to his feet, pushing every thought but his survival from his mind. Never mind that Potter had just saved him... his noble actions wouldn't mean much when the Prophecy was fulfilled and the Dark Lord lived on. It was a foolish move on his part, really. Draco attempted to convince himself of this as he proceeded to escape the threat of battle, stepping carefully over the piles of debris scattered around the place. He had finally reached the end of the corridor when he spotted what appeared to be a large bundle of black robes. It took a moment for him to finally realize what he was seeing and...

Draco stumbled backward, unable to remove his frightened eyes from the body that lay lifeless on the floor in front of him. Pansy Parkinson's eyes stared, glossy and unseeing, at his feet, her one arm lying crumpled underneath the side she rested on and the other dangling limply behind her back. He collapsed and retched once, twice, before he was able to fully comprehend that she was dead. Gone... like Crabbe. Crabbe... Pansy... People who had, like he, pledged their allegiance to the Dark Lord in exchange for protection. Protection from death... from what was now lying, pale and unmoving, directly in front of him.

But the word of a snake never meant anything.

As a remorseful pain began to creep its way throughout Draco's entire being, there was a loud bang from the fight he had fled and his body quaked in terror. He had a feeling that the battle would soon edge its way to where he was and leapt to his feet, feeling very vulnerable without a wand. He looked down at Pansy's body, and saw that in her hand was her now useless wand. Draco stepped forward and kneeled down, looking with a sickened stomach at the pale hand that still clutched it. With a gulp he outstretched his hand, nearly retching again as he unclenched her cold dead fingers from around the wand. Then, with another unwelcome flash of remorse he fled, eager to escape danger.

Just when the noise from the fight began to diminish Draco stopped, an unfamiliar feeling wrenching at his very soul. Had someone been there to save Pansy, she would not be dead. If Harry and his friends had not been there to save him, well, he'd not be having this terrible internal struggle right now... Draco rocked agitatedly on his heels, one way towards danger and the other towards safety. "Bloody hell," he muttered under his breath, and sped back off towards the fight.

He reached the scene just in time, and saw as his fellow Death Eater Thicknesse was Transfigured into a terrible sort of sea urchin, the spell cast by none other than a good-for-nothing Weasley. Draco looked disgusted as another Death Eater dueled with the Mudblood and the Weasel, and then caught something moving just out of the corner of his eye.

Creeping up very slowly and quietly was a third Death Eater, who Draco could see had his eyes trained on Harry Potter through his mask. Draco's gaze flitted from the Death Eater to Harry, then back again in a flurry of indecision. Before Draco had the chance to raise his wand he saw the Death Eater that Granger had been dueling crumple to the ground, Stunned, then heard her shriek, "Harry! Look out!"

Everyone in the hall: Ron, the other two Weasleys present, even the rapidly changing Thicknesse turned to see what Hermione had yelled about, then spotted the last Death Eater just as he had disarmed Harry. Draco, mind still whirring in a state of complete panic and desperation, yelled, "Stop!" to the Death Eater and lifted his wand to Harry, who fixed him with a look of hatred and, something he'd never personally seen come from the Boy Who Lived: fear.

With an anguished cry Draco spun around and, with a flick of his wand, Stunned the incredulous Death Eater.

There was a mortified silence then in which Draco turned to the shocked group beside him and murmured, almost incoherently, "Returning the favor..."

It was almost the second those words left his mouth that there was an explosion the likes of which he had never experienced before, and his body was thrown seemingly weightless across the hall. He landed with a pained groan on his back, his head throbbing and white stars invading his vision. He could feel blood trickling downward from a deep gash in his arm, and felt his eyelids droop heavily. He felt that maybe, if he closed his eyes long enough, things would right themselves and he'd be able to go back to his manor, sleep the world away...

_'No.'_

His eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly, ignoring the screaming protests his body made with every movement. He looked around quickly and, with a start, realized that one of the Weasleys, more specifically one of the twins, lay near him, still and unresponsive to the new rounds of crashing and banging around him. His body was pinned under a piece of a pillar that had fallen in the explosion, and Draco could not tell if the boy was alive. He heard the groans of pain from the others and saw Granger attempt to sit up to his far left.

Then, to his great surprise, Draco saw the Weasley boy's body twitch, his hands pushing weakly against the pillar under which he was trapped, until they dropped to the ground, having passed out once more.

Draco felt a surge of relief at this, and the next second he questioned his sanity for having been relieved that a Weasley had survived. His thoughts all jumbled together as one ran prominently through his head, _'Which side are you on?'_ He sat, frozen to the spot, unable to answer that question even to himself.

But, in the cruel way that nature always behaves in moments of indecision, Draco's momentary lack of alertness had distracted him from hearing the sharp **'click-click'** of eight spindly legs on the cracked tile behind him. He spun painfully around and saw a gigantic spider emerge from behind the rubble to his right, headed straight toward the once again unconscious Weasley...

Draco watched in terror as the creature neared the twin's body and heard whom he believed to be Percy yell, "_Fred!_" as the eight-legged thing tensed to attack.

* * *

**And that, ladies and gentlemen (though a majority, and possibly all of you, are ladies), was the beginning of our tale.  
Be excited for the next chapter. It's written by Eva, and she happens to be one of the most amazing HP-nerds/ writers/ kids that I know.  
So.  
If you would like to, then please review. We'd love to hear from you.**

**Thanks!**

**-Whorsie & Eva.**

**:]**


	2. Chapter 2

**Returning the Favor**

**(2)**

**Complete Summary:: After seven years, one attempt at murder, and one Dark Mark, Draco Malfoy has finally become the Death Eater that he has strived to be. But no sooner does he join the ranks, he is thrusted into war. Sworn protection by the Dark Lord, Draco sees things that he could never imagine and is thrown into a whirlwind of confusion. There are two sides to this war but on which side does Draco truly lie?**

**(Summary & title by Eva! :D)**

**Guten tag!**  
**Welcome to the second chapter of WhorsulaundEva's first collaborative fanfic! We ask that you sit back, sip your butterbeer, and enjoy our story. We welcome constructive criticism but do not welcome those who just want to be rude. Any ignorant people who comment shall be burned at the stake! **

**Anyway, thank you for continuing to read our fanfiction! Be not afraid to leave a comment...we don't bite...too hard. **

**-Eva **

**

* * *

**

Just as Draco laid eyes on the enormous arachnid, the spider lowered its' venomous fangs into the unconscious Weasley. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he snatched his wand off the dirtied floor and shouted "_Alarte Ascendare_". The eight-legged beast sailed through the air, crashing into the wall at the opposite side of the hall. As it dropped to the ground, the beast crushed Rodolphus Lestrange.

'_Bloody hell!_' Draco thought to himself. '_What am I doing?_' He turned, stunned at what he had just done, to find the twin that he thought was Fred already suffering from the spider's evil bite. His face was changing from a mild pink to a tomato red in a matter of seconds. Draco knew that if he were not taken care of immediately, Fred would die. Draco had to get him out of here, or at least to somewhere safe.

Lucius Malfoy was desperately searching every last corner of the Hogwarts Castle. '_He has to be around here somewhere…please let him be_.' He knew Draco had to be still alive; his son was tough and strong. As soon as he began to reassure himself of this, Lucius stumbled over a lifeless body. Pansy laid in a pool of her own blood, a look of horror still on her face from her attack. '_Bloody hell, where is my son?_'

Lucius sprinted down the corridor; his long hair flying behind him, praying his only son was still alive. He needed him now more than ever. Not only was he concerned about the possible loss of his son, but also the fact that the Dark Lord was already upset over the prophecy being broken and Draco failing to kill Dumbledore. If Draco could not accompany his father in the next attack and do it successfully, the Dark Lord would murder Lucius and Narcissa both.

Draco could hear the storm of Death Eaters outside the Great Hall. If he wanted to help Fred live, he desperately needed to remove him from the area. Hell, if Draco wanted to live, he needed to leave and quickly at that. But he couldn't just sneak out of the Great Hall…Potty, Weasel-be, and Mud Blood were surrounding the area along with their fellow Order members. Panicked, Draco searched the ground around him. Next to the lifeless body, whose face was beginning to turn a redish-purple shade, laid a small sack of Instant Darkness Powder. '_The Weaselbes are smarter than it appears_.' Draco thought to himself after recognizing the Weasleys's Wizarding Wheezes label.

Draco could hear the screams of the Death Eaters outside nearing. Hurriedly, he threw the powder around him, darkening the entire Great Hall. Draco grabbed Fred's cold hand and apparated into an empty corridor. He landed hard on the cold marble floor, making a resounding thud. An extremely faint moan came from the twin that lay next to him. After recognizing his surroundings, Draco new that Professor Flitwick's office was around the corner and that he had to somehow manage to drag Fred with him, floo him to St. Mungo's, and return like nothing had ever happened. He pulled himself to his feet and began to drag the dead weight Weasley down the corridor. Suddenly, he could hear a faint pair of footsteps. Draco quickly hid Fred behind a statue. No sooner he had moved the motionless body, the footsteps entered the corridor.

Lucius paced down the second floor corridors. He just knew that Draco had to be around here somewhere. He had already checked Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom and had no such luck although Myrtle was quite upset that Draco was no where to be found. She recommended that Lucius check the second floor boys' bathroom because she knew that Draco often frequented that restroom when he didn't want to talk with her.

He turned down the last corridor only to hear footsteps further down the hall. It was either Harry Potty or his son. Either way, it was what the Dark Lord wanted. Lucius began to run after the footsteps. A figure came out from behind the statue a few feet away.

"Father?" Draco whispered, shocked to even see the man looking for him.

"Draco! I have been searching all over for you! Come now, the Dark Lord needs us!" Lucius commanded, relieved to see his boy still breathing.

"**NO!**" Draco shouted a little too quickly. His father looked at him stunned. "I….I have something else I'm doing first."

"Oh, are we having a tea party? Sorry to interrupt Draco but there is a war going on and your army needs their soldier!"

"You don't understand Da-"

"I think I do. **Let's go Draco**." Lucius retorted firmly, not even allowing his son to finish.

"I'm not going anywhere father! What do you not underst-" Before Draco could even complete his sentence, Lucius pulled out his wand and began to shout Imperio.

* * *

**And end scene.**

**That concludes the second chapter of Returning the Favor by yours truly, WhorsulaundEva!**

**The third chapter shall be written by our dear Whorsula, who is truly amazing! So, be on the lookout for the third chapter of Returning the Favor! I'm sure you'd like to know what Whorsula is going to do to Draco... I mean Lucius. ;)  
**

**If you would like to, then please review. We'd love to hear from you. And as stated earlier, we don't bite...too hard.  
**

**Thanks!**

**-Whorsie & Eva.**

**:]**


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